In a chippy game between teams at the opposite ends of the Western Conference standings Wednesday night, the playoff-bound Avalanche rallied to force overtime before Anaheim’s Rickard Rakell scored with 1.2 seconds remaining in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory at the .
“We could have used a little puck luck,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after his team saw its seven-game winning streak end.
Rakell used a long wrist shot from the right circle to beat goalie , who lost for the first time in seven starts. The Avs had seven shots and plenty of chances to win it in OT, with firing his second shot off the post in a game when Colorado had at least four shots clang off iron beside 39-year-old goalie Ryan Miller.
“I thought we were the better team tonight and should have won,” said Avs captain Gabe Landeskog, who had a goal in his first game playing with a broken nose. “But you let them hang around and you don’t capitalize on your chances — and we had plenty of them — you end up with one point.”
In addition to its winning streak, Colorado (40-18-7, 88 points) saw its NHL record-tying six consecutive one-goal victories come to an end. Anaheim (27-32-8, 62 points), which lost 6-2 at Chicago on Tuesday, snapped a two-game losing skid.
“I liked what we were creating and I liked what we were giving up, too, through the first two periods. But we needed to capitalize on all those chances, even in overtime,” Bednar said. “But sometimes that’s the way it goes. I think Miller played real well for them. They end up getting two (points). We’ll take the one and turn the page.”
Avalanche superstar tied the score at 3-3 at 7:19 of the third period, snapping his seven-game goals drought with a wicked wrister off the rush from the left circle. Minutes earlier, MacKinnon had a shot clang off iron.
MacKinnon had been in a scoring rut, with just four assists during his goals drought, but he was still playing like the superstar that he is. He just wasn’t getting the results.
Newcomer Vladislav Namestnikov and (power play) scored first-period goals for the Avs, while the Ducks got one apiece from former Avs forward and defenseman Brendan Guhle.
Landeskog was playing with a broken nose, suffered from a high stick in Monday in a 2-1 win at Detroit.
Anaheim’s Sam Steel got the only goal of the second period, marking the first time Colorado had allowed more than two goals in an eight-game stretch. That streak began Feb. 18 against the , followed by a 1-0 win at Anaheim.
The injury-depleted Avs played their second consecutive game without top-pairing defenseman and third straight without top-six forward . They recently joined a long injury list that includes key forwards , and and goalie , who are each out through mid-March or longer.
Rantanen, however, skated on his own in a red, noncontact sweater at Wednesday’s morning skate. He will not accompany the team on a three-game Pacific Coast trip that begins Friday at Vancouver.
Footnotes. Anaheim also was missing several key players to injury, including defensemen Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm. … Ducks first-line right winger Danton Heinen starred at the University of Denver from 2014-16. He was acquired before the trade deadline from Boston. Former DU star Troy Terry, who played two seasons with Heinen, has played in 47 games with Anaheim but was recently reassigned to the minors in San Diego.
